Perry stays in race, tweets: 'Here we come South Carolina'

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is staying in the presidential race despite a fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

The Republican wrote on his official Twitter account on Wednesday: "Here we come South Carolina!!!" He attached a photo of himself jogging near a lake, wearing a Texas A&M running shorts and showing a thumbs-up.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon following the tweet, Perry said, "This was not a hard decision."

The Texas governor confirmed that he will participate in the upcoming New Hampshire debates and head to South Carolina. He added that there are "real republicans with real primaries" to come.

On Tuesday night, Perry communications director Ray Sullivan told NBC's Carrie Dann, "It's going to come down to a calculus of what the Iowa results really said beyond the first snapshot, what resources we have available financially and otherwise and how we read South Carolina and the potential there."